Porn videos found in bin Laden's computer files

THE DEATH OF BIN LADEN

Scott Shane, New York Times

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 13, 2011

The enormous cache of computer files taken from Osama bin Laden's compound contained a considerable quantity of pornographic videos, U.S. officials said Friday, adding a discordant note to the public image of the Islamist militant who long denounced the West for its lax sexual mores.

The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity about classified material, would not say whether there was evidence that bin Laden or the other men living in the house had acquired or viewed the material.

The discovery of the pornography, first reported by Reuters, may not be surprising in a collection of five computers, 10 hard drives and dozens of thumb drives and CDs whose age and past ownership is not known.

But the disclosure could fuel accusations of hypocrisy against the founder of al Qaeda, who was 54 and lived with three wives at the time of his death, and will be welcomed by counterterrorism officials because it could tarnish his legacy and erode the appeal of his brand of religious extremism.

In a 2002 "letter to the American people," bin Laden denounced U.S. culture for its exploitation of women's bodies in dress, advertising and popular culture.

A team of intelligence analysts under the CIA's direction has been working to review the material seized from bin Laden's house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by the Navy SEAL team that killed him. Officials have said the material shows that bin Laden was making notes about new ways to attack the United States and sending instructions by courier to subordinates and al Qaeda affiliates.

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Also Friday, Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, confirmed that U.S. interrogators had questioned bin Laden's three wives for the first time Thursday, 10 days after they were taken from the compound by Pakistani security forces. He declined to give more details, saying, "I can't characterize the interaction."

U.S. officials have many urgent questions for them: where other top Qaeda operatives are, where bin Laden lived before moving to Abbottabad and whether any Pakistani military or intelligence officers visited the compound. But the wives are believed to have lived cloistered lives, and it is unclear what they may know or be willing to tell.

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